Henry Kulky Movies

"Old Sheba" is a scraggly circus elephant, which the Cartwrights receive as payment for Hoss' one-night stand as a big-top performer. Ben and Adam insist that Hoss and Joe return the pachyderm, but the boys are convinced that they can take care of Old Sheba all by themselves. To make a long story short, they can't. Also appearing are William Demarest as Tweedy, Henry Kulky as Bearcat, and Clegg Hoyt as Barney. First shown on November 22, 1964, the hilarious "Old Sheba" was written by Alex Sharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, created and produced by Irwin Allen and based on his 1961 movie of the same title, told of the adventures of the Seaview, an advanced nuclear-powered research submarine, designed and built by retired admiral Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart), the founder and head of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, located in Santa Barbara, CA. Set in the then somewhat distant future of the '70s, the 1964 series depicted the Seaview and her crew -- who were organized along U.S. Navy lines although it was officially a civilian vessel, unless commissioned into the regular navy in an emergency (as in the episode "Mutiny") -- as scientists, investigators, and explorers, as much as military men.
The Seaview is initially under the command of Captain John Phillips (William Hudson), who is killed in an attempt on the life of Admiral Nelson in the opening minutes of the first episode, "Eleven Days to Zero." Her new captain, detached from the navy to take command of the Seaview for the mission at hand, is Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison), who agrees to make the assignment to the Seaview permanent by the episode's end. The admiral and the captain are depicted as developing a close relationship, almost like a father and son, across the run of the series. During the first season, many of the Seaview's missions involved adventures on land, and stories of espionage and infiltration, in keeping with the spy movie craze of the period, although the overall mix of stories also encompassed topical thrillers, drama, science fiction, mystery, exploration, military adventure, and even human interest ("Long Live the King"). The ship's complement of officers and crew included Lt. Commander Chip Morton (Bob Dowdell), Crane's dutiful executive officer, CPO Curley Jones (Henry Kulky), the rough-hewn, gravel-voiced top-enlisted man, and a crew of almost 100 others, most of them recruited by the admiral out of the regular navy for this plum assignment and all fiercely loyal to Nelson. The ship's array of weaponry in the first season included two-man mini-subs, torpedoes, and missiles, and in "Doomsday" it is established that the Seaview -- though a non-government vessel -- is part of the United States' nuclear defense arsenal, and is equipped with thermonuclear missiles to be launched in the event of an attack, as part of the "failsafe" system; introduced in that episode, those missiles would play a key role in subsequent shows in the ensuing years. The program's cast of characters was surprisingly consistent across four seasons, all but one of the regulars -- Chief Jones, as played by Henry Kulky, who died of a heart attack midway through the first season -- reappearing throughout the run of the show. Nelson's rank was advanced without explanation midway through the first season as well, from vice admiral (three stars) to full admiral (four stars). Among the developments in the first season, Nelson designed built a sister ship to the Seaview, the deep-diving submarine Polidor, which is destroyed by sabotage in the episode "The Fear-Makers"; another rival to the Seaview, the Neptune, is destroyed in her shakedown cruise by an encounter with a gigantic, irradiated man-o-war, in "Mutiny." Other menaces faced by the Seaview in that first season included a giant octopus ("Village of Guilt"), a super-powerful magnetic ray ("The Magnus Beam"), a robot returned from space ("The Indestructible Man"), and a devious survivor (Robert Duvall) of a race of super-intelligent humanoids from an ancient evolutionary chain in Earth's primordial history. Despite these seemingly wild and outlandish stories, the series' first season is usually regarded as its most realistic and easy to take, principally because it was aimed at adult as well as juvenile viewers. As the later seasons progressed, the focus shifted much more toward holding and entertaining younger audience members. The first season was also notable for the presence of a fairly large number of women in the guest casts of each show, including soon-to-be Irwin Allen leading lady June Lockhart (who subsequently co-starred in Lost in Space) in one episode. As a submarine in the '60s, women would be relatively scarce in real-life, and this was the case in subsequent seasons (especially after the second) as the plots moved away from spy stories and dramas, and into more fanciful realms. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A prowler has been reported in the neighborhood, so Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) decide to learn how to defend themselves. This decision leads to a memorable afternoon at a judo academy, presided over by real-life martial arts expert Louis Coppola. Despite the usual slapstickery, the girls become quite adept at judo--but their new-found athletic prowess inevitably backfires, and at the worst possible time to boot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this action drama, ranchers and lumberjacks are at loggerheads over the proper usage of the land. When the logging team finds a prime stand, the ranchers beg the loggers not to harvest it because the lack of trees will cause deadly mud slides during the rainy season that will destroy their homes. The battle becomes quite heated as the ranchers and the lumberman begin blowing each other up. In the midst of explosive tempers and fighting, a romance blooms between lovers on each side. Finally the lead forester sees that he is wrong after the head rancher's daughter, the woman he loves, is almost blown to bits. Unfortunately, his partner doesn't and continues to fight until he is shot and killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With Gene Barry already riding the video range as legendary gunfighter-turned-lawman Bat Masterson, independent producer Walter Mirisch hired old-timer Joel McCrea to play a rather less-dandified version in this routine Western released in Cinemascope. When his brother Ed (Harry Lauter) is cowardly shot in the back and killed, Bat accepts to run for county sheriff against the corrupt Jim Regan (Don Haggerty), only to learn that the real killer is someone entirely different. Not wanting the job of sheriff in the first place but only accepting to please a lady friend, the pious Pauline Howard (Julie Adams), Bat willingly breaks the law to aid an old friend (Walter Coy), almost losing both his position and his life in the ensuing shootout. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this entry in the long-running series, the Bowery Boys must help a reporter who was beaten up during an undercover investigation at a local prison. With the consent of the reporter's editor, the boys pull off a phony jewel caper and two of them are imprisoned. In the pokey, they learn that the editor is the real thief and that they really are in prison. Hijinks ensue until they expose a scam surrounding prison guards on the take from inmates who pay them to give them easier jobs. This allows them to prove their innocence and eventually expose the evil editor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Once again Edward G. Robinson takes a script from the trash bin and makes it into a palatable movie. A remake of The Mouthpiece, this is the story of a district attorney with a conscience. When he discovers that a man he's sent to the electric chair was innocent, he takes to the bottle. His assistants encourage him to get off the booze, stop prosecuting and, instead, become a defense attorney. He agrees but his first client is a notorious gangster who has been in business for so long because of leaks from Robinson's own office when he was the district attorney. Push comes to shove and soon, through multiple machinations and mishaps, Robinson becomes the defender of his former assistant on charges of murder. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

The highly variable Audie Murphy delivers his best screen performance as "himself" in Universal's To Hell and Back. Based on the star's autobiography, this is the story of how Murphy became America's most-decorated soldier during WW II. After dwelling a bit on Murphy's hard-scrabble Texas upbringing, the story moves ahead to 1942, when, at 18, Audie joined the army. Within a year, he was a member of the 7th Army, serving in North Africa, Italy, France and ultimately Germany and Austria. One by one, the members of Murphy's Company B are killed in the war, until only three men from the original company are left (the others appear at the finale as ghostly images, a standard visual cliché of 1950s war films). The bulk of the film is given over to Murphy's conspicuous acts of combat bravery, and his killing of 240 enemy soldiers. Highlighted by excellent battle sequences, To Hell and Back is a serviceable tribute to a most complex individual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter Philip Dunne doubled as director on the elaborate filmed biography Prince of Players. Richard Burton stars as the eminent American tragedian Edwin Booth, whose life and career is thrown into turmoil after his younger brother John Wilkes Booth (John Derek) assassinates Abraham Lincoln. The film begins as the younger Edwin assists his alcoholic, ailing father Junius Brutus Booth (Raymond Massey) during a tour of the American hinterlands. When Junius dies just before a performance, Edwin goes on in his stead, thereby launching his own starring career. In danger of becoming as much of a drunk and carouser as his father, Edwin eventually pulls himself together, but his brother's act of violence turns the audience against the name of Booth. Almost booed offstage during a performance of Hamlet, Edwin stands his ground, finally earning the respect of his rowdy audience. Not exactly packed with fast action, Prince of Players will appeal most to lovers of theater in general and Shakespeare in particular. Highlight: Richard Burton and Eva LeGalleine performing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet in the courtyard of a brothel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This children's sci-fi adventure chronicles the friendship between an 11-year-old and his grandfather's robot Tobor, who was designed to explore deep space. Tobor, unlike other machines, was endowed with human emotions. Trouble erupts when the communists kidnap him and try to make him do their evil bidding. Fortunately, Tobor is mind-linked to his creator and cannot be easily reprogrammed. The adventure begins when the boy and the scientists attempt to save the robot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this north-western set in the Yukon, a Mountie must investigate the violent deaths of three mail carriers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Fireman Save My Child started out as an Abbott and Costello picture, but then Lou Costello became ill with rheumatic fever. Or Costello turned down the script. Or the team decided to film Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde instead. Whatever the reason, when the film was finally released, Hugh O'Brian and Buddy Hackett were playing the roles originally intended for Bud and Lou (A and C can still be seen in some long-shots, however). Set in San Francisco in the early 1900s, the film casts Hugh and Buddy as a pair of bumbling firemen. Buddy invents a new fire-extingushing device, which the bad guys attempt to steal. Naturally, the film affords plenty of opportunity for slapstick chase sequences, and even allows Buddy Hackett time to do a potted version of his "inferiority complex" monologue. Top-billed over O'Brian and Hackett is the zany musical aggregation of Spike Jones and His City Slickers, who likewise are given several opportunities to shine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide